


The Spring Of '85

by Abxminable



Category: Pride (2014)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-29
Updated: 2014-12-29
Packaged: 2018-03-04 02:46:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 908
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2906360
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Abxminable/pseuds/Abxminable
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mark just before and after his diagnosis</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Spring Of '85

The first signs that Mark Ashton was dying was the fact that when he cut himself with his razor blade it would not stop bleeding.   
The Irishman locked his jaw and pressed a towel to his cheek, the forth in twenty minutes, to try and cease the bleeding. In the living room Mike was entertaining guests - Gethin hadn't been able to pay the electricity bill for his apartment above Gay's The Word so Mike had invited the ex-LGSM group over to the tiny flat he shared with Mark.   
Mark had to make the bleeding stop, he couldn't stand Mike worrying - or the others for that matter. He reached in the smaller medicine cupboard underneath he sink and pulled out a packet of plasters and stuck a rainbow one to his face before wiping any traces of blood away, he quickly rinsed the sink and cloth and then joined his friends in the living room.   
"Ah Mark!" Mike was the first to notice him enter the room and Mark couldn't help but grin at that. "What took you so long? You missed Jonathan's-"   
"Oh shut up Mike, it wasn't that great." Steph laughed nudging Gethin slightly as she spoke.   
Jonathan's smile wavered slightly when he seen the look on Mark's face and stood up, "Mark, help me brew up will you? I'm trying to cut down on the alcohol for Geth."   
Mark nodded slightly and clenched his jaw slightly for a second before smiling back, "Come on then."  
When they both got into the kitchen, Jonathan put the kettle on to boil and looked at Mark squarely, "Cut yourself?" He asked, trying to keep his voice nonchalant.   
Mark nodded once, "Something like that."  
"Haven't you stopped the bleeding?"   
Mark closed his eyes, "No.. God, you can't tell Mike- please Jonathan. He.. He'd worry.. Make me go for a screening." He looked at Jonathan with an enormous amount of vulnerability, one which Jonathan recognised as his own from all those years ago when he first got his diagnosis.   
"What do you think Gethin does for me?" He said quietly, smiling slightly.   
\-------  
Five days later Jonathan called the flat, "Hello?" Mike picked up.  
"Is Mr Ashton there?" Jonathan asked.  
"Yeah, he's asleep - he was sick last night."   
"Oh good lord, tell him to call the shop when he wakes up."  
"Okay, any reason?"   
"Geth's got a new edition of that stupid magazine he likes to read in stock and they're flying off the shelves, if he wants one he'll have to come by. Bye Mike!"   
-  
"How're you going to tell him?" Gethin asked Jonathan as he was counting the money in the till.   
"I'm just going to give him the letter. We don't know what the results are yet, Geth." He said quietly, looking up at Gethin.  
"I should probably go when he gets here, if the news is bad then he'll probably be like you were.." Gethin pulled on a coat and left.  
Twenty minutes later Mark arrived, freezing cold from the late January air. His face was white and streaked with sweat and his hands were shaking. "Where's the letter?" He asked hoarsely, searching Jonathan's face with his eyes.   
Jonathan handed it him and swallowed, "Whatever the results are we'll support you."   
Mark stared at the envelope and swallowed hard before nodding, "Thank you." He whispered before tearing open the seal.   
Silence filled Gay's The Word like a vile smell, it's pungent odour grasped every inch of it and held Jonathan in place in anxious tension.  
Mark's grip on the paper tightened as he read the results, a sob escaped his throat and a second later he fell to his knees sobbing.   
Jonathan closed his eyes and swallowed slightly, dropping beside him and hugging him. "I'm so, so sorry." He murmured, over and over again.  
"I-I want to live." Mark whispered, his body shaking violently as he sobbed. "I can't die." He froze and lurched away from Jonathan's embrace, "This is a sick fucking joke!"  
Jonathan rose an eyebrow, "What on earth Mark?"  
The younger man ran out of the shop and into the night.  
-  
"Mike, is Mark there?" Mike had picked the phone up on the first ring, it was one in the morning and Mark had been out for hours.  
"No he's not.. Isn't he with you and Gethin? I figured you'd just gone out for a drink."  
"He's dying Mike. He found out he's positive and ran out."   
The phone line went dead.  
\-   
Three days later Mark returned home stinking of alcohol and his clothes covered in vomit. Mike helped him undress and get into the bath.   
"You've been admitted into hospital.. Guy's Hospital in Southwark, they've had a bed open for you for days." Mike said quietly.  
"I don't want to go Mike." Mark sobbed. "I want to live."  
\-   
Twelve days later everyone was sat in the hospital waiting room, taking it in turns to go and see Mark. His health had deteriorated rapidly, the doctors claimed that it was the flu and that he didn't have much longer to live. Hearing that news, Mike walked into the room and sat with him, holding his hand.   
"What date is it?" Mark croaked, pulling his oxygen mask away from his face.   
"February 11th 1987, why?"   
"It's so... Beautiful. The sky." Mark's hand tightened around Mike's. "Don't let me die."   
Mike closed his eyes and kissed the back of his boyfriends hand. "I won't Mark.. I won't."


End file.
